Editing Proteinoid (section)

==Polymerization==
The abiotic [[polymerization]] of amino acids into proteins through the formation of [[peptide bond]]s was thought to occur only at temperatures over 140&nbsp;°C. However, the biochemist Sidney Walter Fox and his co-workers discovered that [[phosphoric acid]] acted as a [[catalyst]] for this reaction.{{Citation needed|date=March 2014}} They were able to form protein-like chains from a mixture of 18 common amino acids at 70&nbsp;°C in the presence of phosphoric acid, and dubbed these protein-like chains proteinoids. Fox later found naturally occurring proteinoids similar to those he had created in his laboratory in lava and cinders from [[Hawaii]]an [[volcano|volcanic]] vents and determined that the amino acids present polymerized due to the heat of escaping gases and lava.{{Citation needed|date=March 2014}} Other catalysts have since been found; one of them, amidinium carbodiimide, is formed in primitive Earth experiments and is effective in dilute [[water|aqueous]] solutions.

When present in certain concentrations in aqueous solutions, proteinoids form small microspheres. This is because some of the amino acids incorporated into proteinoid chains are more [[hydrophobicity|hydrophobic]] than others, and so proteinoids cluster together like droplets of oil in water. These structures exhibit a few characteristics of living cells:

#An outer wall.
#Osmotic swelling and shrinking.
#Budding.
#Binary fission (dividing into two daughter microspheres).<ref>{{cite book| vauthors = Fox SW, Klaus D |title=Molecular Evolution and the Origin of Life |edition= Revised |year=1977|publisher=Marcel Dekker|location=New York | veditors = Fox JL |isbn= 978-0-8247-6619-1 }}</ref>
#Streaming movement of internal particles.<ref>{{Cite web |title=There are two basic ideas about how life on Earth originated |url=https://sbpoley.home.xs4all.nl/abiog/virginiaorigin.htm |access-date=2025-05-11 |website=sbpoley.home.xs4all.nl}}</ref>

Fox thought that the microspheres may have provided a cell compartment within which organic molecules could have become concentrated and protected from the outside environment during the process of [[molecular evolution|chemical evolution]].<ref name='Fox 1997'/>

Proteinoid microspheres are today being considered for use in pharmaceuticals, providing microscopic biodegradable capsules in which to package and deliver oral drugs.<ref>{{cite patent |country=US |number=5601846 |gdate=1997-02-11 |status=expired |inventor = Milstein SJ, Kantor ML |assign=Emisphere Technologies Inc  |title=Proteinoid microspheres and methods for preparation and use thereof}} </ref>

In another experiment using a similar method to set suitable conditions for life to form, Fox collected volcanic material from a [[cinder cone]] in [[Hawaii]]. He discovered that the temperature was over {{convert|100|C}} just {{convert|4|in}} beneath the surface of the cinder cone, and suggested that this might have been the environment in which life was created—molecules could have formed and then been washed through the loose volcanic ash and into the sea.{{Citation needed|date=March 2014}} He placed lumps of lava over amino acids derived from methane, ammonia and water, sterilized all materials, and baked the lava over the amino acids for a few hours in a glass oven. A brown, sticky substance formed over the surface and when the lava was drenched in sterilized water a thick, brown liquid leached out. It turned out that the amino acids had combined to form proteinoids, and the proteinoids had combined to form small spheres. Fox called these "microspheres". His protobionts were not cells, although they formed clumps and chains reminiscent of bacteria. Based upon such experiments, [[Colin Pittendrigh]] stated in December 1967 that "laboratories will be creating a living cell within ten years," a remark that reflected the typical contemporary levels of ignorance of the complexity of cell structures.<ref>{{cite book |title= Our amazing world of Nature: its marvels & mysteries |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=wPNPAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Colin+S.+Pittendrigh%22,+%22laboratories+will+be+creating+a+living+cell+within+ten+years%22 |year=1969 |publisher=Reader's Digest Association |isbn=978-0-340-13000-1 |page=287 |oclc=7993251 }}</ref>